The Indonesian Parliament on July 11 passed into law the nation’s Health Bill, allowing foreign medical specialists to practise and be based in the country. The law aims at simplifying bureaucratic processes for general physicians to become specialists, and regulating the collection of the country’s biomedical, genomic data for processing overseas. President Joko Widodo must sign it within a month to officially turn it into law. With foreign specialists coming into the country, the traffic of middle-class and rich Indonesians going overseas to seek treatment will be curbed, said the He
Starting 2024, Bali in Indonesia will impose a 150,000 rupiah (S$13.30) tax on tourists to preserve its culture. The payment of a fee for foreign tourists applies only one time during their visit to the “Island of Gods.” The fee will have to be paid electronically and will apply to foreign tourists entering Bali from abroad or from other parts of Indonesia. The levy will not apply to domestic Indonesian tourists. The resort haven of Bali attracts millions of foreign visitors annually. More than two million tourists visited the island in 2022. The government plans to use it for the e
The first Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) campus outside India will come up in Tanzania’s Zanzibar, and offer two academic programmes from October. The new campus will also be the first to be led by a woman director. The Union government on July 6 announced that the first IIT campus overseas will be established by IIT-Madras (IIT-M), in the Tanzanian island city of Zanzibar after an MoU was signed between India and Tanzania. The move is in line with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, which recommends that “high-performing Indian universities will be encouraged to set up cam
Astronomers across the world announced on June 29 that they have found the first evidence of a long-believed form of gravitational waves that create a “background hum” rumbling throughout the universe. The breakthrough has been made by hundreds of scientists using radio telescopes in North America, Europe, China, India, and Australia after years of work. It has been hailed as a major milestone that opens a new window into the universe. Gravitational waves are ripples in the fabric of the universe that travel through everything at the speed of light. First predicted by Albert Einstei
Changi Airport Group (CAG) has introduced new measures such as refresh pods, water coolers and protective sun wear to keep its outside workers cool. At the new 2.5-metre-tall refresh pods installed at various staff rest areas, cool air blows and circulates within the pod at the easy touch of a button. These pods help the airside workers to cool down or dry themselves. Each pod can accommodate up to five at a time. To keep workers well hydrated, there are over 40 water coolers installed at the airside, which makes it to about eight coolers per pier. A drinks truck has been deployed to re
After 12 years, the United Nations Secretary-General has taken India off a list of countries mentioned in a report on children and armed conflict. This is the first time since 2010 that the country has not been named in the report alongside countries such as Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Lake Chad basin, Nigeria, Pakistan, and the Philippines. The report on ‘Children and Armed Conflict’ said India has been “removed from the report in 2023” in view of measures taken by the government to “better protect children.” Officials of the Ministry of Women and Child Development on June 28 s
About 27 metric tonnes of ice and snow melt in the Himalayas was prevented by the Indian national lockdown, in place from March 25, 2020, to May 31, 2020, according to a new study. Reduced anthropogenic pollutant emissions during the 2020 COVID-19 lockdowns decreased snowmelt in the Himalayas, the study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) Nexus said. Liqiang Zhang from Beijing Normal University, China, and colleagues explored how the sudden, dramatic reduction in particulate pollution in the region affected snow and ice melt, using multiple sate
The National University of Singapore (NUS) has become the first Asian university to rank in the Best 10 of the Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World University Ranking. It moved up three positions from rank 11 last year to break into the top 10. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT),US, topped the ranking for the twelfth consecutive time this year, followed closely by Cambridge University and Oxford University of the United Kingdom. The top 10 global universities also included Harvard University at number four, Stanford University at number five, Imperial College London at number six, ETH
Indonesia, Mexico, Paraguay, Philippines, and Vietnam are the most positive countries in the world, according to Gallup's latest Global Emotions report. Afghanistan is the least positive country in the world. The survey found that people across the world had more positive experiences in 2022 as compared to 2021. The global rise in negative emotions stalled last year, and positive emotions showed signs of recovery. The Gallup asked adults in 142 countries and areas in 2022 if they had five different negative experiences on the day before the survey. The responses were compiled into an in
"Climate washing" litigation has risen sharply in the last two years as environmental groups and governments grew frustrated with increasing corporate claims about tackling climate change, says a report by London-based Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment. The annual report on climate litigation trends released on June 29 defines climate washing as cases that challenge companies, and sometimes governments, over misinformation or misleading green claims. In 2022, 26 climate washing cases were filed against companies globally. It was slightly lower than 27 in